Maryland Democratic Rep. Elijah Cummings Dies At 68

Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, a Baltimore attorney and civil rights advocate who served in Maryland's legislature before representing the state in the U.S. House, where he took on a lead role in investigating President Trump, has died. He was 68.

Cummings, the head of the powerful House Committee on Oversight and Reform, died early Thursday at Johns Hopkins Hospital from complications related to longstanding health challenges, according to The Associated Press.

The 12-term congressman had failed to return from an unspecified medical procedure and missed two legislative roll call votes on Tuesday, the first day after a two-week recess, according to The Baltimore Sun.

In a statement on Sept. 30, Cummings said his doctors expected him to be able to return to Washington "when the House comes back into session in two weeks." It said he'd be in "constant communication" with his staff and congressional colleagues while he was away.

Cummings was among the three Democratic committee chairmen who signed a letter last month that accompanied a congressional subpoena of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who has declined to testify in the ongoing impeachment inquiry of the president.

According to an official biography of Cummings, the Baltimore native attended Howard University, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in political science and served as student government president. He later obtained a law degree from the University of Maryland School of Law.

He served for 13 years in Maryland's House of Delegates before winning his congressional seat in 1996.